At the double-overtime Daytona 500 on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, Joey Logano, a two-time NASCAR Cup champion, described his close second-place finish to race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with a few choice words.
Team Penske driver Joey Logano stated during the post-race interview that
“Pissed off, that’s where I’m at right now, with a little bit of a smile at least. We finished it, which is all right, but gosh, I hate finishing second in the 500. You’re so close to winning the biggest race of the year. …What do you do? It’s over now, you move on, but we were so close to winning this thing. So proud of our team and what we’ve done from coming off the championship and carrying momentum into the season, but finishing second in the 500 in an extremely solid race is just, argh! It stings. It hurts right now.”
"Second just is the worst in this race." @joeylogano | #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/i5HZ1hgN02
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2023
In an effort to win his second 500-mile championship, Logano took the lead six times over the course of 12 laps. He organized in fourth place for the last restart, following Stenhouse on the outer lane. Stenhouse briefly increased his lead then changed lanes three-quarters of the way through the next-to-last lap, leaving Logano to take the lead on the top side with Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing car following.
On the last lap of the second overtime, when Stenhouse raced into the inside in front of Kyle Larson, the former Daytona 500 champion used the high slot to take the lead. Larson had no assistance in the three-wide rush when he went up. Larson sped through the field with ease. Aric Almirola struck the rear of Travis Pastrana’s Toyota as he approached him in 10th place, sending Pastrana into Larson.
Joey Logano a congratulatory note to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
In a dramatic race when several of his rivals did not fare as well, Logano mainly avoided harm with his No. 22 Ford. The performance on Sunday added to a strong run in the days preceding the 500, which included finishing fifth-fastest in endurance races, winning a Duel qualification race, and starting in third place for the grand finale.
So Close… P2 in the #Daytona500 #22Crew built a rocket @shellracingus @Pennzoil @FordPerformance for this week!
Won Duel 1. Started the 500 P3. Scored Stage Points. Bummed it wasn’t a W, but solid start to the 2023 season. #NeverEnough pic.twitter.com/PPNkGwCP2Q
— Joey Logano (@joeylogano) February 20, 2023
Logano generally maintained his foot on the pedal as he pushed his way down to the green line for the final time, despite the fact that the video analysis of the finish clearly showed Stenhouse winning the race. His No. 22 temporarily and wrongly topped the scoreboard before the right finishing sequence was listed since he really pushed off Stenhouse’s No. 47 to take the green and yellow flags first.